I’m sure there are some men who never leave their first love, but I don’t actually know of any. I only know a few who found love on the second time around.

For ten years I thought I was one of those lucky people. After divorcing a runabout who constantly cheated on me, and attempted to kill me three times before I figured out what was going on, I moved in with a charming fellow I believed him to be my soulmate. He wasn’t perfect, but I loved him dearly.

There were many red flags, but I ignored them all.

After ten years together, one night he announces he ‘might’ be in love with someone else, but he’s not sure, so he asked me to remain in his house, sleeping in his bed, while he got to know this other lady better.

Shell shocked, at first, I agreed. (That didn’t last long.)

In less than a month, I had bought my own house far away from his, and headed off to New Zealand, Fiji, and Australia to heal. I had a fine time with several fellows, but I wasn’t letting anyone hurt my heart again.

However, before I scare you off this story, Carla does keep trying to find her true love.

BLURB

Carla Jones accidentally runs over and paralyzes a policeman. She ignores her lawyer's advice and pleads guilty to the charges, and accepts the judge’s ruling ‘that she broke him, now she has to fix him.’ Trying very hard to ignore his outrageous and frequently hateful behavior, she takes the handsome officer into her home and dedicates her life to one goal: making him walk again. She never imagines the twists and turns her life and heart will take the day she brings him home.

EXCERPT

David didn’t leave Carla’s house until just a few minutes before his shift. He didn’t dare, given Steve was out of control. Every time he turned around, Steve had that poor woman in tears again.

The bathroom was too small to accommodate the wheelchair, which meant that someone would have to carry Steve six feet into the bathroom and place him on the toilet. Steve was a big guy: six five, one hundred and seventy-five pounds. It was not physically possible for Carla to do it. Hell, David struggled with the task.

When David told Steve he’d have to use a bedpan until he got better, that sent Steve in a fury, cursing Carla for the day she was born. She gave it back for the first five minutes, but then he started hitting below the belt.

“I’m not surprised a cow like you can’t find a man.”

She glared at him. “I’ve had enough men in my life, thank you.

He countered with a declaration that seemed to strike her to the heart. “But they all left you, didn’t they? In the end, they just couldn’t find anything about you to love, could they?”

Liza O’Connor lives in Denville, NJ with her dog Jess. They hike in fabulous woods every day, rain or shine, sleet or snow. Having an adventurous nature, she learned to fly small Cessnas in NJ, hang-glide in New Zealand, kayak in Pennsylvania, ski in New York, scuba dive with great white sharks in Australia, dig up dinosaur bones in Montana, sky dive in Indiana, and raft a class four river in Tasmania. She’s an avid gardener, amateur photographer, and dabbler in watercolors and graphic arts. Yet through her entire life, her first love has and always will be writing novels.